Online Therapy India: What to expect?
by Larry Page SEO ManagerOnline Therapy India: India has witnessed an upsurge in the number of
people taking up online therapy and counselling. One key factor in this rise is
the ease and quickness with which one can connect with a mental health
professional. However, a closer cross sectional view would help us further
understand this rising trend in online therapy and things to consider while
choosing an online counselling platform.
What is Online Therapy?
Online Therapy also known as Tele-health or Tele-mental health allows you
to access counselling and therapy online. You can connect with psychologists
and other mental health professionals without any physical appointment and seek
therapy from a mobile device.
How does it work?
How online therapy works differs from one online counselling platform to
another. Most of them require you to create an account with an email ID. Once
registered, you would either choose a counsellor or the online counselling
platform will match you with one of their counsellors. Counselling sessions may
take place via text messages, voice call or video call. Most of the platforms
use Skype, WhatsApp or other such telecommunication platforms. However, best
practice is to deliver counselling in a secure and exclusive environment
provided by the online counselling platform itself.
What to expect from your online therapy session?
Online therapy allows you to connect with a psychologist or mental health
professional virtually. How you connect with your therapist depends on the
platform that you are using. Some give you the absolute choice to choose your
therapist while others match you with a therapist based on your requirements
and problem area. You can also choose to stay anonymous and not reveal your
identity to your therapist. This is a major difference between face-to-face
therapy and online therapy.
During therapy, you get a non-judgemental space where you can share your
thoughts and reasons of distress. Your therapist takes into account what you
want to achieve through therapy and gives you tips, guidance and suggestions to
help you feel better and alleviate your distress. Maybe, it’s not an emotional
problem but you are just looking for a non-judgemental space to speak your mind
out and share your worries, fears and anxieties without a delay.
Most platforms give three modalities to communicate, namely, text messages,
voice calling and video calling. The cost of therapy depends on the medium of
communication that you opt and their frequency. Only few platforms provide a
comprehensive way to therapy where you simply purchase a counselling plan and
can talk to the therapist the way you are most comfortable- text messaging,
voice or video calling.
Mostly people are shy in the beginning and prefer text messages or voice
calls over video call sessions. However, as therapy progresses, one gets more
comfortable with the therapist and the therapy process.
Things to consider
There are certain things you must consider before starting online therapy
or choosing an online therapy platform. These are
- Confidentiality: Consider
what measures the online therapy platform takes towards keeping your therapy
confidential. Do you want to be anonymous during therapy and if the platform
allows that? If the communication between you and your therapist is confidential
and is not shared with anyone?
- Security: This is one of the
most important aspects and often neglected. Security encompasses how safe is
the online therapy platform in terms of security features, your privacy and
data security. Make sure your platform gives the utmost importance to your
privacy and data. You must read their Privacy Policy and how they process and
store your data. Security of data collected during therapy is also essential;
hence it is highly advisable to use platforms that offer end-to-end- encryption
of the communication between you and your therapist.
- Severity of Symptoms: Online
therapy is best suited for non-crisis situations and should be avoided in
emergency health situations like suicide. During such situations, seeking a face-to-face
consultation is recommended.
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Created on Oct 23rd 2020 10:07. Viewed 365 times.